‘Sons Of Anarchy’ Finale Death Ruined All Hope Of A Happy Ending

Apologies to the legions of ‘Sons of Anarchy’ fans who thought that things couldn’t possibly get worse after they offed Opie… or Clay… or [insert dead character here], because the show delivered its most heartbreaking blow yet during the Season 6 finale on Dec. 10 — effectively ruining all hope for a happy ending. Don’t read on if you don’t want to know who died on ‘Sons of Anarchy!’

Kurt Sutter‘s motorcycle operaSons of Anarchyhas always been dark, to say the least. But the Season 6 finale effectively ruined all hope of future happiness for Jax (Charlie Hunnam), Gemma (Katey Sagal), and anyone else who may or may not have survived “A Mother’s Work.” Read on to hear all about the devastating death and destruction!

‘Sons Of Anarchy’ Finale: Gemma Kills Tara; All Hope Dies

Sons of Anarchy is and always will be the story of Jax Teller, and Jax Teller’s story isn’t always a fun one to tell. Over the years he’s lost his best friend, his father, and (arguably) his morals due to his seemingly unbreakable ties to SAMCRO, but there has always been one shiny beacon of hope — a way out of “the life.” That way out was Tara (Maggie Siff), the long-suffering mother of Jax’s two boys and the woman who spent all of Season 6 trying desperately to save her family, no matter what that meant for her own health, happiness, and safety.

Well, “A Mother’s Work” ruined all of that, because the “mother’s work” they were referring to was Gemma’s, not Tara’s. Tara finally — finally — found a way out of the club life for her boys, and then Jax’s own sick, high, deluded mother hit her with an iron, drowned her in dirty dish washer, then finally (this was horrible) stabbed her in the brain multiple times with a two-pronged fork.

It was brutal, it was selfish, it was shocking, it was wrong — and it served as a stark reminder that Sons of Anarchy will never have a happy ending. Tara was that happy ending for Jax — just like Nero (Jimmy Smits) was that happy ending for Gemma, and now both of them are (more or less) gone. Even if Jax manages to avoid that RICO sentence, he’ll have to live with the knowledge that his own mother murdered the love of his life; robbing his sons of a mother and himself of all hope for a happy future. In short, Season 7 is going to be rough, and Tara will absolutely not be the last member of the Teller family to drop before all is said and done.

Somewhat ironically, the best Jax can hope for is that his two sons will run away with Wendy (Drea de Matteo), the recovering heroin addict who is somehow a better parenting option that anyone else on this show. It’s wild.

‘Sons Of Anarchy’ Finale: Who Will We Root For, Now?

But don’t think that Jax will be the only one sobbing into his cereal when the show likely comes to an end a year from now. Remember that sweet, naive little Juicy (Theo Rossi) we met back in Season 1? That Juice is now inwardly deader than Tara — in the past few weeks alone he’s murdered a young mother, overdosed on Oxycontin, and offed a random guard, and last night he killed the morally upright Eli Roosevelt (Rockmond Dunbar) and covered up Tara’a murder, all in the span of a few hours! What a guy.

The reason I bring up Juice is because, outside of Jax and — for a short while — Opie, Juice was the shiny beacon of hope in SAMCRO. Hope that the club would find the morality John Teller fought so hard for; that not everyone involved in this life had to suffer greatly.

But Juice is gone for good now — along with Jax, Gemma, Tig (Kim Coates), John, Clay, Opie, Tara, Eli, and everyone else that SAMCRO has ruined and/or killed over the years.

If you were hoping that everyone would ride off into the sunset at the end of the series, SoA fans, last night was your final reminder that the show you are watching is a tragedy. Season 7 is going to be brutal, sad, and (due to Kurt Sutter’s mad genius) utterly thrilling, but please don’t expect to come out of this thing in one emotional piece. SAMCRO turns everyone in touches into a pile of dust, and that goes for us, too — in short, buckle up kids, it’s going to be one hell of a ride.

good grief…some people on here–you act as if this was REAL life? its a drama, if you find it disturbing or don’t like it –TURN THE DAMN CHANNEL!!!! for NORMAL people, its just release from real life…its NOT REAL!!!

I hate that they killed Tara off. She should have not been killed off. I still will watch cause I love the show and want to see who pays for killing Tara. I’m torn because Gemma thought Tara had ratted on her son. It’s gonna be interesting.

hi there Charlie hunnam my name is iaquanna I am a really big fan of the show you are an amazing guy you are hot and very sweet person I think u are anyways I love ur character jax teller I love u jax a.k.a Charlie hunnam.

No, Tara’s death was a DIRECT result of Gemma’s stabbing her in the head with a barbecue fork. Chief Unser’s big mouth was indirectly responsible for Tara’s death. Why is everyone trying to protect Gemma? She is the most destructive and poisonous character on the show. Most of the tragedies that have befallen Jax are directly and indirectly caused by the shows model matriarch. Tara was trying to protect those kids from a life of violence, drugs and crime. If any of you are at all happy about her death, you likely embrace that kind of lifestyle, which is kind of sad.

Seriously if that was the case then she should have left the lifestyle way before she got in too deep. She did her dirt as well! She was not just some innocent bystander.

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Michael Marr

Posted at 8:10 PM on December 12, 2013

There’s so much unpunished mayhem and murder. Maybe the series finale will be Bob Newhart waking up and telling Suzanne Pleshette that he had a nightmare with more dead bodies than Oz. Then Vic from The Shield will come in and gun Bob down.

I wanted Tara to kill Gemma especially an episode or two ago when she had a gun in her purse and gemma threatened her. now having said that i think the way it played out is right. when you are a doctor and you lower yourself by getting involved with scum like Jax and the rest of the losers in his world this is what usually happens.Tara made poor choices and it caught up with her.

It’s based on Hamlet and at the end of a Shakespearean tragedy, everybody is dead. Even Jax but who will kill him? That being said Tara was the saddest character on tv. She finally smiled for the first time then Gemma kills her! I love and hate Gemma and this show….it’s ridiculous and awesome simultaneously and I can’t stop watching and cry every time. Even when old Clay was finally offed.

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I went through several stages of denial during that death. When she was just drowning I thought “Oh she can make it through that.”. Then she was stabbed and I still thought “Oh one stab wound. She can survive that.” Then the second… “Well… maybe survive with brain damage.” Then the third and fourth happened and I knew she was gone but still tried to think of a chance where she might live. And even as Jax held her, I thought “Maybe the next season will start and she’ll actually have survived that.”

It was just a really tough death. 12 hours later and I’m still hoping that was some really bad dream, but articles like this are making me think otherwise.

I ‘m not sure what you expected. How in the world could there be a happy ending from this show. One of the things I have always loved about SOA is the fact that Kurt Sutter pulled no punches. I love all the complicated marvelous character, but from day one I never expected any of them to have a HEA that’s not what the show is about. I have watched for six seasons, and for me the show has only gotten better. I am looking forward to another wild ride next season. I’m only sorry it will be the last, and I’m sure everyone will probably meet a brute end.

Best article I’ve read yet. Nailed my exact thoughts on the head. So tragic and sad and, frankly, disappointing. Show has no hope for happy endings of any remote kind and no hope for success or moral victory for any character whatsoever. Kind of stupid way to build up these wonderfully rich characters and completely ruin/change them for worse or kill them off. Opie, Tara and old Juice deserved so much better.

It’s so Shakespeare it’s genius actually. The tragic irony and we all know, Jax and Gemma have to die. I think the only question now is how. Sutter has veered off of Hamlet but the core plot is still there.